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It's hard to see the stars in the middle of a city given all the light, but being higher up does help at least a little. Which is why Atalo is sat on the rooftop above his shop, gazing upwards in quiet regard. Dressed in jeans and a shirt, he'd be feeling the cold if he was human. A leather lanyard hangs from his neck and vanishes under his shirt, hiding whatever's fastened to it.
Mearc was invited to the rooftop, and let himself into the shop (locking the door behind himself) and up the stairs to the roof (locking the door behind himself). He's wearing that leather coat that Drake had made, but this time it's paired with dark skinny jeans; the pockets in the duster make cargo pants strictly unnecessary, and believe it or not, Mearc has a fashion sense in there somewhere.
"Good evening, Atalo."
The vampire slowly smiles, though keeps his eyes on the stars above. Nevertheless, a hand pats the roof next to him in invite. "Mearcstapa. It is very good to have you in person. Pease, join me?" His tone is as settled and calm as normal, but his entire demeanour seems more relaxed. "How are you friend?"
Mearc takes a seat, setting his messenger bag down to one side. "Tornetta Construction released the video of my pen test last fall, so my name's been cleared. Now all we need to worry about is the bitch with the iron knife. Hopefully she'll be squared away in the next couple weeks. The VIP is up and active again, which is good news for everyone." And all of this is more a sitrep than 'how Mearc is'.
Atalo smiles, looking over to the Changeling and patting his shoulder carefully. "Which is all good news and means you're safer now. But I didn't ask you here for business, you've had enough of that and what it recently cost you. I asked you here because I'm happy for your company, and I hoped you'd enjoy looking at the stars."
There's a pause, before Mearc leans into that patting hand and closes his eyes. "I don't get to take a proper break yet, there's still work to do. Though, did you hear what Lethia's offered?"
"There is always work to do." Atalo answers. "Do you like watching the stars? It's not always easy in a city like this one." He pauses, then rests his arm around Mearc's shoulders. "I haven't, what's on her mind?"
"She's sending me and my partners on vacation, when things cool down. Hawaii. We'd never be able to afford it on our own, but I think she's worried about me. Either that or she wants me to owe her yet another favor." He chuckles, then glances up at the sky. "One of my friends is studying astronomy, so I've done some stargazing, but...not much. Still, it's quiet up here. And still, and almost...almost feels safe."
"Nothing and no one will harm you while you are with me." Atalo states simply. "Believe those words." He smiles wryly. "Lethia is older than a number of civilisations and empires. Her motives aren't always clear, at least to me. And, Drake introduced me to it. Well, I have in the past, but not for quite some time. Do you know any of the constellations?"
"The Dippers, of course. Cassiopeia. Orion, but he's a winter constellation." He points up, tracing the lines of the big dipper. "When I was a kid, I went to scout camp, and one thing they taught us is that there's a star on the handle of the big dipper that's actually two stars, and if you can see both, you have 20/20 vision. But, uh. Here in the city that's a far higher mark to hit than out in the woods of Oregon."
The vampire smiles with a nod, watching as Mearc points out the stars. "I never learned them." He admits. "When I was a child I would often sneak away from my chores to stare at them and imagine them all having tales and great battles in the sky." He focuses on the big dipper. "I could sharpen my senses, but, that feels like cheating here. Maybe I'll visit the woods one day and find a tall hill to see from."
"Or climb a tree?" He laughs softly, and the moves so he can lie down, with his head resting on one of Atalo's thighs. "I can't imagine you as a child, though."
"Or climb a tree." Atalo echoes, looking down at Mearc's face. He pauses, eyes closing for a moment. "I left that behind a long time ago. I.. I'm as I am." His tone quietens and he glances away.
"You don't exactly sound happy about that, though. What's going on in that head of yours right now, Atalo?" His voice is soft, almost gentle.
"A great deal." He smiles slightly, running a hand over Mearc's hair. "I'm mostly happy as I am, but I know there are things I've lost. My head is mostly good though. Drake and Lamara met earlier, I went stargazing with him and Lamara.." He pauses, then pulls at the cord around his neck, producing a coin from under his shirt. It's an ancient Greek coin, with a portrait of Artemis on one side and a deer on the other. "I don't know how I earned this regard." He confesses.
"Drake's? Probably by being someone who is as open as he is. Someone who he can speak directly with and not feel like he's fucking up. I think..." He sighs. "I think Drake feels like he doesn't fit into society, a lot of the time. Like he's a foreigner in his own country."
There's a pause. "I haven't really talked to him about this thought. I don't know if he'd want sympathy, or if he might see it more as pity. Or if he'd even want to talk to me at all, outside of a professional context."
"Hm." Atalo considers. "I'm bad at those things, as you're aware. But he's talked to Lamara, I'm hoping she can offer him advice, if he's happy for it. I believe he worries that people don't like him, that he doesn't fit, yes. It's not true, and I hope he learns that." He closes his eyes, musing. "How is my friend Mearc? Does he feel happier now his name is cleared, and he can move around openly again?"
"I didn't like him when I first met him. He upset me, but I understand better now, what happened and why." Mearc looks up at Atalo's peaceful face, and smiles. "Your friend Mearc is exhausted, worn down, stressed and still too 'on duty' to feel relief. But I'm proud of my friends, for getting me out of that mess. And then using what they learned from it."
"Good friends will always come for you." Atalo agrees. "And I upset you too, near the beginning. He's like me, in lots of ways." He considers Mearc, smoothing a hand over his hair. "You are safe here. You can rest here. And did I tell you Drake created a shrine for me? He's generous, but also.." He muses. "He creates for people, gives gifts, because he's worried they'll leave. Hopefully I can persuade him he doesn't need to do that to keep me."
"To...some degree, money is meaningless to him. The only cost of his art is his time and his passion. That's the true nature of his gifts. He...likes to show people, on some level, how he sees them, with his art. What he makes of them, at the core. He sees me as a territorial predator, so he made me a panther coat. He made one of my partners a ring that shines in the light they give off, in their true form."
"And he made me a shrine to worship to Artemis at. Though it didn't last. He's now making me one that will." Atalo smiles. "I wonder how he sees me. And you are a predator, yes. You hunt in different ways to me, but you still hunt."
"He sees you as worthy of his time and attention, at the least." Mearc relaxes a little further. "How do you tend to get your blood, Atalo? I don't see you as the sort to seduce your prey."
He pauses, then rests hands on Mearc's shoulders, very carefully kneading muscles and tension. An expert massage it very much isn't. "You might be angry with me. But I find targets alone, often violent in nature, and I ambush and take what I need."
"Do you kill, when you do that?" He tries to keep his tone of voice carefully neutral.
"No." He shakes his head. "When I kill, it is for reasons far greater then my own need to feed."
"Mm. Why is it that you think I'd be angry at you?"
"Because I hurt people for my own sake."
"Yes, that's part of being a vampire. Like preying on emotions is part of being a changeling. You have to find some way to do the thing, don't you? So, yours is violent--is that actually worse than letting someone think they're having a quickie in the bathroom of a nightclub? It's more honest, certainly."
He nods. "True, mm." A dry chuckle. "I'm unsure if I'm honest or simply blunt in how I act. Either way, it often comes to the same thing." He lances down at Mearc. "How do you find emotion?"
"Mmm. Oftentimes, we stir it up ourselves, to be sure it's the most appropriate for us to feed on. Some are attuned to sorrow, some to wrath, some to desire and some to fear. It's a choice we make, and a declaration about what sort of changeling we are, after what we've been through."
"Because it's you choosing your own nature and what you stand for, now you're free?" He nods there. "Do I have emotions you can see, Mearcstapa? And what sort of Changeling are you?"
"I've never tried to harvest a vampire's emotions. I'm not sure if it would work." He takes one of Atalo's hands in his own quietly. "I'm aligned with Fear. Which is a function of learning to process my own, as well as inciting it in others. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I'm a paranoid asshole, sometimes."
"No you are not." Atalo answers, squeezing Mearc's hand. "You deal in a dangerous world where threats can come unseen and be sharp and vicious and deadly. You have learned how to survive. And if fear helps you do that, fear is useful."
"You're halfway to being a member of my court, if you truly believe that." Mearc laughs warmly.
"Perhaps. I rarely fear for myself. I'm almost impossible to injure." He sighs, patting Mearc's hand gently. "But I do fear for those who matter to me. I can protect them if they're close, but only then. And I'm not yet sure how to when they're away from me."
"You have to learn to trust them, at that point. They'll surprise you, with how smart and resourceful they are."
"Do you trust me?" He asks after a moment. glancing up to the stars again.
"With anything that doesn't involve social graces? Yes." There's a bit of a smirk there.
He laughs at that, shaking his head and grinning a little. "I am learning, but that's likely wise, yes. Despite that I've made friends, so I hope I'm doing something right. And you've also made friends, despite being this paranoid asshole." A nudge and a smirk of his own.
"A few. Which reminds me, if you see Alex before I do, hug her for me. She was one of the engineers of the plan to rescue my reputation, and then took that attempt and spun it out into something advantageous for us. I owe her many, many hugs--she's one of the best friends I could ever have."
"I will try." He nods. "Well, I will offer her that hug. She's a dedicated, kind person." Atalo sighs, then pokes at Mearc's shoulder. Once, twice. "You don't always see though. Mearcstapa. You being free and safe is advantageous for us on its own. And I'm not saying that because of the work you do."
He sighs. "I'm...I know, but I feel the need to be useful. To earn the kindness everyone seems to give so freely. It's a way in which my mind betrays me, sometimes."
"Right now. It doesn't matter to me whether you're useful or not. It matters that you're here, that you're safe and that I've company." He shifts into a half way position without dislodging Mearc from his own position. "And humans are social creatures, we've both changed, but we haven't left that aspect entirely. We would suffer greatly in isolation. The kindness others give you is genuine, but it's also because of needing connections."
"Careful, if you lie down with me, I might end up cuddling you." That sounds more like a joke than a threat.
He pauses though. "Would that. hgn, disrupt things between us? I hope I can have you forget worries for a short time."
"Atalo, you're a good friend. I don't want to have sex with you, but a little cuddle might be nice. Might allow me to actually get my brain to turn off for a while." Turns out Mearc can do incredibly blunt, too, sometimes.
"Good. I don't want to have sex with you either. I think it would upset things." He lies down on his back though, uncaring of the cold stone he lies on as he tugs Mearc gently in invite to sprawl across him. "I hope it will then."
"Upset your balance with Drake and Lamara? Mine with my partners? Or just the beautiful friendship you and I have?" This is asked as he moves in close, resting his head on Atalo's chest and sort of just lying across him like an oversized cat might to their person.
"The last of the three. Though I'm unsure what it would do to your own. I suspect Lux still dislikes me." He closes arms around Mearc, stroking his back slowly and patting at his hair in the manner of someone trying comfort who's not entirely sure how.
"Mm. Delivering the Commissioner to us may have gone a long way in patching that rift." He chuckles, relaxing against Atalo. "And my polycule's generally understanding about other partners. Lux has a boyfriend besides me and Jack, I've been with a vampire outside of them. They're my home, my safe harbor. But that doesn't completely preclude all else."
"Lamara and Drake, they're the same to me, yes." He blinks. "Do I have a polycule too? Perhaps not, they're both with me, but not with one another. And giving her to you. Hgn. I was not entirely selfless. I wanted her ended, but would have been in a dangerous situation if I'd done that myself. Even though I might as well have."
"I mean, the Sakima knew she was a problem, Jack and I had talked to her about Anna-Marie already. If you'd texted, you might have gotten a go-ahead. Or an instruction to bring her to Saagochque to deal with." A pause. "And you totally have a polycule, even if it's not a closed triangle. Look into organic chemistry for examples of how chaotic some molecules--the root of the word 'polycule'--can be."
"I think everyone was, mostly, content with the outcome. And others will know to not threaten you and yours now. Or anyone in my shop who I'm responsible for." He nods. "I'll look at chemistry. I can't promise I'll understand it, but I'll look." An expression of wonder shows. "How did someone like me find that?"
"What do you mean 'someone like you'?" The question's asked gently.
"I am not good at understanding others, and acting wisely in that regard, as you've seen."
"Which makes you more self-conscious and careful. Meanwhile, I'm about 80% sure Lamara seduced you. She's very good at communicating exactly what she wants, yes?"
He smiles softly. "She very much did, yes. She is deeply wonderful." A clear note of happiness there. "When she realized she needed to be more upfront with me, I think."
"Lux and I didn't plan on falling in love. We got together for a cooking lesson and ended up in bed together instead, somehow." Somehow. There's a fond little smile.
"I hope you enjoyed your cooking lesson." Delivered with an entirely straight face. "But mm, the unexpected happens. I wonder if I can find gifts that Lamara and Drake would appreciate. They've both given me some,"
"In both cases, the thoughtfulness will matter more than the material cost, I'm pretty sure."
"Agreed, yes." He smiles. "I will think about what fits, thank you."
Mearc nods. "Good. I think both of them might also like actual dates. Time set aside for them that's special. That's important, in a relationship--I know I've been missing it with everything going on."
"Me and Drake plan to go hunting for ours. I'm not sure of what yet, but we'll see. And Lamara enjoys dancing I think. I'll check."
Mearc nods, tucking in closer against Atalo, perhaps for warmth. Perhaps because soft. "Those both sound like excellent dates."
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